Tambo Teddies – who would have thought a little throw away idea would grow into the business it is today?

Back in 1992, the suggestion to create sheepskin teddy bears was tossed around in a workshop at the Tambo Shire Hall. Three ladies bit the bullet and took up the challenge and Tambo Teddies was born.

Teddy bears from the middle of the Outback – could it get any quirkier? But sometimes the most unusual ideas just take hold and gain a life of their own, and such is the Tambo Teddies story.

Well really, it’s not just the story of the business, it is the story of every bear created. Here in 2023, there has been well over 68,000 bears made, and each now has his or her own little story.

Stories belonging to bears like Jynoomah Jasper, a large camel coloured basil who was recently rescued from a Lifeline store by Tambo locals Melissa and Xanthea Iland. We don’t know how he came to be sitting alone the shelf of a second-hand store, but he now has a new chapter added to his story living life on a Tambo cattle station.

Other bears come back and visit their birthplace from time to time. Many Teds are very well travelled, jumping into the van each year Tambo Teddies have tripped from one side of Australia to the other.

Of course, not all have left town. You can’t grow up in Tambo and not have a Tambo Teddy, every Tambo child has at least one or two. Whether it be a basil, toby or a bickie bear, Tambo households would have more teddies than most.

When we look back over the last thirty years, and in particular the last nine years we realise something very special was created back in the workshop in the town hall. Not just a product created from sheepskin but a movement of teddy bears, and all that a teddy bear represents, love, cuddles, warmth, affection and friendship.

Tambo Teddies truly are Childhood Friends for Life.